Digital Tradition Mirror

The Lone Fish Ball

The Lone Fish Ball
There was a man went up and down,
To seek a dinner thro' the town.
What wretch is he who wife forsakes,
Who best of jam and waffles makes!
He feels his cash to know his pence,
And finds he has but just six cents.
He finds at last a right cheap place,
And enters in with modest face.
The bill of fare he searches through,
To see what his six cents will do.
The cheapest viand of them all,
Is "Twelve and a half cents for two Fish-ball."
The waiter he to him doth call,
And gently whispers - "One Fish-ball."
The waiter roars it through the hall,
The guests they start at "One Fish-ball!"
The guest then says, quite ill at ease,
"A piece of bread, sir, if you please."
The waiter roars it through the hall,
"We don't give bread with one Fish-ball."
Who would have bread with his Fish-ball,
Must get it first, or not at all.
Who would Fish-ball with fixin's eat,
Must get some friend to stand a treat.
"The Lone Fish Ball" appears in a 1926 publication
by Sigmund Spaeth (Read 'Em And Weep, The Song's
You Forgot To Remember). He includes it in his
chapter of songs from the Reconstruction Days,
i.e. right after the Civil War. Spaeth claims
the song was printed in a collection of college
songs in 1868 (Carmina Collegensia ed. by H R Waite).
The song was subtitled "Founded on a Boston Fact
(in the chorus of which all assembled companies
are expected to unite)." Spaeth says it was one of
the earliest of group of community songs, with the
leader doing the two line phrase and then the crowd
repeating it.
RR
oct99